Oportunidades: Program Effect on Consumption, Low Participation, and Methodological Issues

The effect of the urban elements of Oportunidades program on the consumption, low participation, and methodological issues of beneficiary households, or poor families, was analyzed. The social program, which was earlier called Progresa, was different from its rural equivalent in two significant ways, namely, in the targeting and registration of beneficiary homes and in the design of the evaluation. The study of different components of consumption was vital for estimating the effectiveness of the program in reaching out to its intended beneficiaries, children, and achieving its goals of investing in human capital. Differential trends were different between treatment and control areas, showing more positivity in treatment areas. The study revealed that low enrollment rate was resulted from low expected benefit of the program, and participation in the program strongly associated with poverty. It also revealed that poor households tend to spend a large portion of the monetary grant on food.